Gadafy hands over Islamist wanted for kidnapping tourists

One of the wealthiest and most powerful armed Islamists in north Africa, Amar Saifi, was yesterday behind bars in his home country of Algeria following the intervention of Libya's Muammar Gadafy.

Saifi was the number two in Algeria's main violent Islamist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and responsible for the kidnapping of 32 foreign tourists in the Sahara desert last year. His group had pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and he ran, in effect, a private army that roamed across the desert frontiers of several north African states.

Mr Gadafy received praise from Washington for handing over Saifi to the Algerian government. "This continues to show Libya's reintegration into world society and coming down on the side of law and order and the war on terrorism," a senior US military official told Reuters at the weekend.

Saifi was reported to have been captured several months ago by a rebel, non-Islamist group from Chad, and it was unclear how he turned up in Libya last week.

Press reports around the region have speculated either that Mr Gadafy threatened the Chad group with air attacks, or that he paid it for Saifi.

Last year Saifi was reported to have extracted €5m (£3.5m) from the German government in return for the release of 32 tourists kidnapped while on adventure holidays in the Algerian Sahara. A German woman died of heatstroke in captivity and German authorities had put out an international search warrant for Saifi.

The Algerian daily El Watan reported at the weekend that Saifi, a former Algerian paratrooper who is half-French, had used the money to recruit fighters and buy weapons.

Saifi, also known as Abderrezak El Para, had reportedly arranged marriages with the daughters of tribal leaders in northern Mali to ensure support there. His group also travelled through rugged desert areas of northern Chad and Niger. He was a main target for US special forces who had been training local soldiers in Chad, Mali and other countries around the Sahara in anti-terrorist tactics amid fears that al-Qaida style groups would find refuge in the remote region's barren, difficult terrain.

US military sources said Saifi would have key knowledge about the region's armed Islamist groups. "If he were willing to talk, he could probably tell them everything they needed to know to roll up most of the remaining folks," the US official told Reuters. Saifi reportedly lost many members of his group in a battle earlier this year in which US spotter planes helped direct the Chad army.

A large quantity of weapons was also reportedly captured af ter some of his group were driven into the arms of the Algerian army by US-supported troops from Mali. Senior US generals suggested earlier this year that, after agreeing to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction programme, Mr Gadafy might play an important role against armed Islamists.

Saifi's capture has coincided with an offer from Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of a fresh amnesty for Islamists who have taken part in a decade-long civil war that has claimed 150,000 lives.